Hampton man gets year in jail for drug sales

BRENTWOOD — A Hampton man who sold oxycodone to a confidential informant in Plaistow and Derry during an investigation by the Rockingham Sheriff's Drug Task Force has been sentenced to a year in jail.

.Bruce Rubin, 56, pleaded guilty to three counts of sale of a controlled drug as part of a negotiated plea agreement in Rockingham County Superior Court. Rubin also received a suspended 2- to 4-year state prison sentence following his plea earlier this month. The suspended sentence can be brought forward if Rubin runs afoul of the law while he remains on probation, according to court records...Rubin sold the drugs on Dec. 4 and March 29 after filling prescriptions at area drug stores, prosecutors said.

Had Rubin been convicted by a jury, he could have faced 7½ to 15 years in state prison and $200,000 in fines, according to indictments...The informant working with investigators met with Rubin for the first drug sale on Dec. 4 just outside a 7-Eleven store on Crystal Avenue in Derry, according to a police affidavit.The informant gave police "23 pink pills which were believed to be 10 mg oxycodone in a ripped pharmacy bag" after the first drug sale, the affidavit said...Another purchase was arranged between Rubin and the informant in front of a CVS store in Plaistow on March 2.

Rubin filled his prescription of 140 pills in the store and sold 30 of the pills to the confidential source, according to the sheriff's department...Rubin had his prescription filled again at the same store on March 29, and again sold 30 pills to the confidential informant while being under surveillance, the sheriff's department said.

Rubin was being held on bail at the Rockingham County jail before entering his guilty plea in court earlier this month...jkimble@newstote.com..